Warning: This article contains graphic images that some readers may find disturbing.
Salt Lake Community College students were greeted with a site that stirred mixed reactions at the Taylorsville Redwood Campus on Oct. 4 and 5.
An anti-abortion organization called Genocide Awareness Project, in collaboration with Project Truth, displayed graphic images of fetuses intended to shock the onlookers. Their mission is to build “creative tension” and to educate college students on what abortion is.
The three-dimensional display left both SLCC students and University of Utah students outraged and disgusted at the graphic content that was shown. Students at the Taylorsville campus challenged the display.
“It crosses a line to hate speech,” says student Julia Sachs. “I’ve seen anti-abortion protests before, and understand exercising freedom of speech is their right, even if I disagree. But to bring into disrepute of rape victims, display horrible graphic images in public and to spew hate isn’t free speech anymore.”
GAP sets up these booths at college campuses around the United States and Canada. This project was founded by the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform in 1998. The displays show a juxtaposition of graphic images of fetuses, the Holocaust and the lynching of African-Americans, arguing the ethical standpoint of abortion.
“We display graphic images of all types of injustice dehumanizing people in order to justifying killing them,” according to Sophie Scholl of Project Truth. “Pro-choicers were happy that Roe v. Wade passed in 1973, but they don’t know how it passed; it was on faulty reasons.”
The organization was previously up at Weber State University but did not display at any other colleges in Utah. While we were unsuccessful in contacting any other representative from the project, according to the Standard-Examiner the center is not religiously affiliated. The display is protected under the First Amendment.
This should have never been allowed on campus. Its a huge distraction and I’m not paying tuition to have a bunch of mutilated bodies displayed in the center of campus while I’m trying to learn.
Seeing this display showed that SLCC still just might have a sliver of sanity, albeit very small. I lost all faith in SLCC just like I have in general media, but seeing this gave me a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel. This is an idea that people need to consider very carefully, I don’t understand how people could justify it as a right to murder another individual regardless of age, size, race, etc… I’ve also heard many miraculous stories of people being born of rape and their mother deciding to keep and raise the baby, and that person growing up with an wonderful life. How would you feel if you were that person, but somebody deprived you a chance at life in order to make right such a horrible wrong as rape.
I was upset about this display being on the campus. I had to walk right past it to get to my classes. I am against abortion except under circumstances such as rape or extreme birth defects that include death if born. Those decisions should be up to the women and their partners. But I am against these people shoving wrong and right down our throats. They don’t care that some of us have had things happen in which we actually gave birth to babies the size of those shown on their posters. How those graphic pictures bring post traumatic issues up. Do they care? NO! Of course not. I think that they need to stay off campuses.
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